This is the first of a series of books, translated from the French, featuring Parisian bookseller Victor Legris.

It's 1889, the year of the Universal Exposition, and Paris is stuffed full of people from all over the place, including Buffalo Bill and various natives of the French Colonies. The Eiffel Tower is the place to be, at least until a death occurs - initially this is blamed on a bee sting, but when there are more deaths, that explanation suddenly sounds less and less convincing.

Victor Legris finds himself in the middle of this, getting dragged into a mystery involving his mentor and a Russian woman Legris is desperately in love with. Somehow the two of them are involved in these deaths and Legris is determined to discover how, one way or another.

Yes, the whole thing is somewhat contrived and various characters are thrown into the storyline apparently only to serve as red herrings, but in general it's an entertaining enough read set in a fascinating time in Europe. The series continues with [b:The Père-Lachaise Mystery|3294756|The Père-Lachaise Mystery (A Victor Legris Mystery, Book 2)|Claude Izner|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DZXINPoVL._SL75_.jpg|3331356] and although it's not a series I can see myself being desperate to continue, it's good enough that I'll read the next one if I come across it anywhere.